(FIAN Astronomy Lab)
One of the largest geomagnetic storms occurred on Earth over the past four years.
It was caused by the solar plasma that reached our planet, ejected into interplanetary space during an M1.7 class flare that occurred on November 2.
The 25th cycle of solar activity (counting from the end of the 18th century) began in the middle of last year.
Since that moment, spots appear on the Sun more often and flares and coronal mass ejections occur, which, having reached our planet, cause disturbances in the magnetosphere.
This leads to aurora and radio interference, and can also cause satellites and power systems to malfunction.
On November 4, 2021, one of the largest magnetic storms in the past four years unexpectedly began.
After midnight, the geomagnetic activity index sharply increased to level 7 (with a maximum of 9), which corresponds to a third level magnetic storm (G3).
At this time, spacecraft recorded an increase in the speed of the solar wind to more than 800 kilometers per second and an increase in the density of interplanetary plasma by almost 100 times.
After analyzing the collected data, scientists came to the conclusion that the storm was caused by the arrival of solar matter ejected during an M1.7 class outbreak that occurred in the early morning of November 2.
This is unusual as minor magnetospheric disturbances or weak storms were predicted.
The storm provoked one of the largest auroras this year, and the instability of the Earth's magnetic persisted for at least 3 days.
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